Bengaluru Metro: Purple Line to be fully operational today

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: After several delays, the Bangalore Metro Corporation Limited (BMRCL) has finally announced that the Purple Line will be fully operational for passenger services from Monday morning, without any formal or Informal inauguration.

In a letter to the Additional Chief Secretary of the Urban Development department, Karnataka, the Ministry of Housing and Urban affairs on Sunday directed that services be open for the public.

"These two sections are vital from the perspective of commuters in Bengaluru, as both will provide seamless connectivity from the east to the west part of the city," stated the letter.

After successful inspections in both the missing stretches of the Purple Line, the BMRCL had earlier planned to inaugurate the line on October 6, but due to delays in permission from the union and state governments, the date was further postponed.

This did not go well with the commuters, as most of them took to social media and expressed disappointment over the delay. Services from Whitefield to Patandur Agrahara and Mysuru Road to Challaghata will have a ten-minute interval.

Trains from Patandur Agrahara to Mysuru Road will have a five minute gap. To control crowding in peak hours in the morning, the trains from Nadaprabhu Kempegowda Majestic to Mahatma Gandhi Road will have a three minute interval, according to a press release issued by the BMRCL.

With the fully operational Purple Line, Namma Metro Network will now be the second largest metro system in India with 73.81 kilometres, only behind Delhi Metro's massive 350.2 kilometres network.

The Purple Line now covers 43.49 kilometres and will connect Challaghata in the West and Whitefield (Kadugodi) in the East, with 37 metro stations in-between.